Glorious Galle

There are somethings which we like. In no particular order these include good food, fine wine, heritage buildings, small towns, beaches and so on. In each of these categories Galle is the epitome of all the best of Sri Lanka.

The town, which is situated down south of the country, has something stunning to offer in every lane and by lane, some of the finest restaurants and in SL, whether in Galle or at beach side. Oh, and there is plenty to shop and explore as you experience all of the above.

Galle is ideal for a laid-back holiday, for us, it was a mix of culture, cuisine and relaxation was the perfect antidote to a normally hectic life. No wonder we choose Galle as our last destinations. Once again we opted for a home stay with Mr Abdul who own this wonderful colonial bungalow right in the heart of the Fort town and was very well taken care by Iqbal and his wife Wasima.

As part of our stay we took the opportunity to explore nearby beaches in the region, starting with Hikkaduwa for awesome sunset view to Unnawatuna, Welligama to the secluded Mirissa. They all fall in the vicinity of one hour bike ride from the fort town. And I am going to dedicate a separate post on these gorgeous beaches.

Known as the Dutch town, Galle is small and picturesque in every sense. But above all the face of Galle is shaped by its diversity of people of different religion living in harmony.The town is home to a fairly large muslim community and you have a big mosque in the old part of town next to the lighthouse.
It's from 1904 and looks a lot like a church to me in it's architecture, but it is a mosque and it's being used quite actively. The town among many gems, also house an Arabic learning school attracting many small town muslims to come, stay and learn the religion. However these students population make Galle a more beautiful place to tourist.

On arrival, its worth visiting the museum which houses arty-facts collected by a single man over years ala Salarjung Museum in Hyderabad. Interesting stuff collected over a period of time and now well preserved and showcased by his son. However my thoughts turned very quickly to explore the culinary side of the town. Although we were truly spoiled for choice for food, a visit to Pedlar's Inn is well worth it – combining typical Sri Lankan food, multi-cuisine dishes offering some really awesome desserts to select from, this place is very huge and laid back with a tiny shop to browse for clothes and jewelry while you wait for your order. We had gone there for dinner and the next day we went again for a wonderful breakfast. An experience well worth taking in. For some exotic breakfast head to The Fort Printers restaurant.

The food in this region is both familiar and unique. Go to Mama's Kitchen for some tasty Hoopers and ask for coking classes which they offer in teaching their traditional local cuisine. Also do meet Krishantha Arachchige from Elite Restaurant if you want the best seafood in the town. Just next to his place is a small antique selling shop, ask for Erenga if you need a good bike for hire.

I don't want you to think that Galle is all about food, but there is one more experience which you should definitely try and do. Start your walk on the wall – the town boundary which is raised in position, from the Light house skirting the Dutch town, touching the main entrance gate and finally getting down at the old church. The view changes as you walk along the wall - its raised position also makes it a great vantage point for observing the rest of the town. Take this trip at sunset.

The place also offers variety to shop at. The Three by tpv is one such place owned by three Scandinavian men. It has a very typical Asian touch with a Scandinavian thinking and western standard in perfect harmony. The place offers lifestyle products, clothes and customized furniture along with some exclusive art works. Strike a conversation with the energetic young manager Tivon Prasad.

Then we have a store called Shoba Life to Hands hosts a Gallery selling beautiful hand-made local crafts made by local women, provides Craft Classes as well.

Do drop in at Mimimango selling ladies wear, Bare Foot store, LUV SL Odel, The KK Collections, very expensive antique store Sithuvili, Laksana and some hundred of jewelry and gem sellers. And of-course the Saskia Fernando Art Gallery to catch up with the current show.

Lovely place to chill and relax while you walk along the ramparts and watch life go by :-)

Backside view of the Meeran Jumma Masjid from our home stay  

Locals of Galle Fort love going for a swim in the ocean waters

The Meeran Masjid view from the Light house

A view of the masjid from the sea

Beautiful lanes offering wonderful places to eat at and shop from

The military base house

Tourist exploring the place

There is art everywhere in Galle Fort

A front side of a house converted into a cute restaurant offering tea and desserts

The old Church

View of the lane from the Post office

Another church next to Galle Fort Hotel

The Fort area has numerous interesting doors and windows

A lane in the Fort

Mimimango boutique

Galle Fort at sunrise

Galle Muslim Cultural Association office

Sun rise

Exotic Roots, an art shop to buy colourful posters dedicated to the city of Galle 

Another store selling Sri Lankan and Indian Bollywood inspired posters

Barefoot store

Odel LUV SL store

Back view of the Meeran Masjid

There are numerous books dedicated to the town and easily available at every store and restaurant

Met this artist who paints on wooden photo frames

An old man selling antiques and arty facts

A small mural on the wall

The courtyard of The Fort Printers restaurant.

Sri Lankan muslim boys studying at the Arabic College in the Fort 

Saskia Fernanado Art gallery

Krishanta of Elite Restaurant with his big catch of the day

Interesting sculptures at the store The Three by tpv

Next HIKKADUWA. UNNAWATUNA, WELLIGAMA AND MIRISSA.

Kandilicious Kandy

We took the 1230 pm train from Nanu Oya to Kandy. Kandy is just a hundred odd kilometers away and its climate is somewhat similar to Nuwara Eliya. Pleasant. The town and its countryside, is lush and green and there are many nice trails and treks starting from the region. The capital of the last Sinhalese kings, the town has grown enough to be known as the only other real city of Lanka other than Colombo. The city is also home to the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, that supposedly preserves and guards one of the teeth of the Buddha.

We booked ourselves at a home-stay through AirBNB, but it took us sometime to locate the address as our house owner, Gerard's phone was switched off. Finally because of our map, and a very helpful tuk tuk driver, we could able to locate the place just in time. I almost lost my patience. Remember people in Sri Lanka do not know proper addresses and can be misleading many times.

After settling into the room, we quickly changed and stepped out to spent a few hours exploring the hectic streets of Kandy and got a better feel for Sri Lanka’s second largest city before heading to bed for the night. W e took a quick de tour to The Temple of Tooth. The place was over crowded as they were gearing up for the evening puja. And may I ask where is the tooth? After a brief walk around the temple, we left to have dinner.

The next morning Gerard dropped us at a small restaurant close to Queens for Breakfast. After which he took us in his car and dropped us at a point on Peradaniya Road to walk back and explore. Given our early start, we had plenty of time and we started our day with a store selling exclusive Batik prints. After which we found Waruna Antiques. Interesting place to shop. And do catch up for a casual chat if the owner Waruna is there at the shop. I am going to do a separate post on him, his store and the mad place he suggested. We continued walking until we found a small but good store selling ceramics. As we already saw the temple of tooth we decided to give it a skip in the day and rather sit by the lake and relax. Do that because you will be amaze to see the kind of birds that flock to this lake.

What to do in KANDY

1. Explore the Temple of the Tooth leisurely as its a huge never ending former palace compound consisting of the temple, a library, the palace, a museum and a huge lake to relax.
2. The temple can become quite crowded so make sure that you get there early to beat the queues.
3. Walk around the complex of the historical Queen Hotel.
4. Eat at Kandy Muslim Hotel for Buryani. Old Empire hotel for Lunch and The pub for drinks and dinner.
5. Do try the Bake House for desserts.
6. Drink Elephant Ginger Beer. Its non alcohol.
7. Do visit Bahiravokanda Vihara Buddha Statue. You can climb on top of the Buddha statue site to get a beautiful view of the Kandy city.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Main entrance of The Temple of Tooth
   
   
   
   The Temple of Tooth
   
   
   
   Interiors of the entrance to The Temple of Tooth
   
   
   
   Stunning wall murals in the passage leading to The Temple of Tooth
   
   
   
   The passage leading to The Temple of Tooth
   
   
   
   A musician playing flute at the Temple door
   
   
   
   Interiors of the main Temple of Tooth
   
   
   
   Another entrance leading to the Buddha temple
   
   
   
   A wall mural depicting life of Buddha
   
   
   
   The main temple entrance 
   
   
   
   Gold ornate ceiling inside the temple complex
   
   
   
   National Museum complex in The Temple of Tooth
   
   
   
   
   
   
   The Batik workshop
   
   
   
   A lady giving final touch ups to the batik print
   
   
   
   A tuk tuk driver near Queen's Hotel
   
   
   
   View of the main street from the Queen's hotel reception
   
   
   
   Tourist
   
   
   
   The main complex of the Queen Hotel
   
   
   
   One side is The Temple of Tooth and on other is the lake
   
   
   
   Another view of The Temple of Tooth
   
   
   
   Very beautiful and stunning backside of the lake
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   A duck relaxing near the lake
   
   

Next GALLE.

Srilanka: Nuwara Eliya.

It was the most amazing train journeys I ever had, owing to the fact that I detest train journeys otherwise. One really need to be there to experience this. The journey lasted for about 5 hours passing through tea estates, rivers, waterfalls, small villages from Colombo to Nanu Oya with Expo Rail (book tickets online). There is no train service to Nuwara Eliya as it does not have a station; the nearest is Nanu Oya, about 8 km and from there take a 45 minutes taxi ride to Nuwara Eliya aka little England.

After checking in the Park View hotel that we booked, we went out to explore the tiny town although it was sunset and everything was shutting down. We had dinner at one of the road side restaurant and went back to catch up with our lost sleep.

Next day we started very early as we have time only till 1130 am before we head back to the station to catch the train to Kandy. That means we only had 3 to 4 hours since sunrise. The weather here is just perfect to grow teas. I woke to a beautiful blue sky and sunshine which remained all morning till we left.

The town centre is small enough to walk around. If you still feel like seeing everything, hire a tuk-tuk. We started walking. The weather was very pleasant with day temperature as low as 15 degree! The town has a huge Golf court in the middle, along with the heading to the racecourses. These are sort of traditions left from the colonial era. The first mistake that many people make about this town is to assume it be to like England. It does has remarkable similarities but this is still Sri Lanka. Yes the mix of british and Sri Lanka makes for an unique and somewhat bizarre cultural experience thats cant be seen anywhere else.

But one of the main attractions is the Race Course ground. Here you will find many people riding horses as part of their ritual or training. Gosh it will be so much peaceful to just stop and look at those bright lush green lawns. As far as I came to know this is the only proper race course in Sri Lanka. I am not sure how often the course is used for horses but there are plenty of ponies hanging about, kids cricket matches going on and its used as a shortcut through the town.

Due to lack of timing we missed going to close to the Lake Gregory which is a kilometer outside the town centre. But we did see it from a distance the blue mass of water set against the surrounding hills. It is a man made lake and one of the more popular tourist destinations here. If you are fan of activities such as boating and walking around the lake then head here. Inshallah next time.

The other things we missed were the tea plantations and some botanical gardens. :(

overall Nuwara Eliya still has a very British feel, as can be seen in the appearance of many of the buildings, in various colonial styles.

REMEMBER:

1. If you are going out in the evening I would strongly recommend you carry a torch as in the dark you wont be able to see the holes in the pavements leading to the sewers.
2. Have delicious breakfast at Remarko.
3. Look out for the famous PINK POST OFFICE
4. The nights might get cold but the days are very hot. Also it rains a lot in the hills.
   
   
   
   Traffic cops still ride horses in Nuwara Eliya
   
   
   
   Colonial post office (also called The Pink Post Office)
   
   
   
   Thicket of trees lining Nuwara Eliya's lake.
   
   
   
   A walk through quaint streets of the town.
   
   
   
   A Pagoda
   
   
   
   The racecourse situated right in the centre of the town
   
   
   
   A trainer with his horse
   
   
   
   Inderjit trying his hands at riding a pony
   
   
   
   A colonial house
   
   
   
   Caretaker of the racecourse
   
   
   
   A pony relaxing off the racecourse tracks
   
   
   
   Beautiful landscape
   
   
   
   Colonial houses line the hills of Nuwara Eliya town. The town is also referred to as Little England.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Soaking the early morning sun and fresh air of the valley.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   A sparrow peeps out from its nest.
   
   
   
   Townscape
   
   
   
   Our hotel was up on a hill
   
   
   
   Farm-fresh flowers
   
   

Next, we travelled to Kandy by a train called Podi Menike. The journey was of 4 hours.

Next: Kandy.